Many years ago I wrote a news story about a group of divers hired to vacuum a chemical spill from the bottom of the St. Clair River.
It was dangerous work. The current was fast and they had to remove insoluble contaminants skittering around in depressions and mapped out with a rope grid.
The divers were an interesting bunch. Their next job was on a deep sea oil rig. But it was the job they just came from that caught my attention: Repair and maintenance of the sewers serving Toronto.
How cool of …

The League of the American Bicyclists announced this week the largest number of cities it has ever added to its list of Bicycle Friendly Communities. 
Several Great Lakes cities were upgraded or added to the list for the first time.  The annual evaluation recognizes investment in bicycling promotion, education, infrastructure and. Regional cities on this year’s list:
 Minnesota

Minneapolis (gold)
Greater Mankato (bronze)- First time

Wisconsin

Madison (gold)
La Cross (silver)
Milwaukee (bronze

 
Michigan,

Ann Arbor (silver)
Grand Rapids (bronze)
Lansing (bronze)
Traverse City (bronze)

Indiana,

Bloomington  (silver)
Indianapolis and Monroe County (silver)
Columbus (bronze)- First time
Fort Wayne (bronze) – First time

Illinois,

Chicago (silver)
Schaumburg (bronze)
Naperville (bronze)

Ohio,

Cincinnati (bronze) – …

 
Outside Magazine recently released a list of the top 10 canned beers of 2012.
The magazine claims these as the best of 100 brands sampled. Apparently they were sampled at once and by very few judges. How else to explain the impaired judgment resulting in a selection containing only two  beers brewed in Great Lakes states:  Sly Fox Pikeland Pils from Pottstown, Pa., and Sixpoint Resin Ale in Brooklyn, N.Y.
And those two aren’t even in the Great Lakes watershed.
Sorry Outside. Every beer lover – at least those who read Echo – …

Chicago’s Loyola University became the latest university in the region to ban campus bottled water sales, the Chicago Sun Times recently reported.
The paper said that a student group notes: “We consider the sale of bottled water on campus in conflict with the Jesuit tradition and Loyola’s mission ‘to be in service of humanity through learning, justice and faith.”
Great Lakes Echo recently wrote how campus bottled water bans – and the establishment of water bottle filling stations – appear to be increasing regionally and nationally.
At the same time, bottled water manufacturers …

Miss the super moon last Saturday? You know, that’s when the moon appeared 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than other full moons this year.
That’s when it’s orbit brought it closest to Earth at about the same time it appeared its fullest.
Super moons appear about once a year, according to NASA.
This one got a lot of play on YouTube. And the Great Lakes served as a popular backdrop for photographers – and anglers – who wanted to capture it. Some examples:

This time lapse image with musical accompaniment is by …

Few need help.

Good intentions could spread disease.

Or lead to their death.

By Wei Yu
Capital News Service
LANSING – Two new obesity drugs are awaiting approval from the Food and Drug Administration, but federal advisers say Qnexaand Lorcaserin should undergo clinical trials to ensure there are no heart-risks.
According to the Michigan Department of Community Health, the state has the 10th highest rate of obesity in the U.S. Thirty percent of adults were obese and about one in six children aged 2 to 5 were obese or overweight in 2010.
“It is necessary to initiate clinical trials of the new drugs,” said Tom Rifai, medical …

Avoiding the threat of mosquitoes, ticks and other pests by wearing insect-repellant clothing sounds ideal, but there may be some hidden costs.
On April 25, the EPA found that pesticide-treated clothing sold by the Columbia Sportswear Company lacked a proper ingredient statement, a warning, a proper storage and disposal statement and was missing the required EPA pesticide registration number.
Until Columbia fixes the labeling and tells customers what ingredients are in them, it can no longer sell the pesticide-laden clothes. It also has to pay a fine of $22,880.
So although it’s nice …

A new weapon has emerged in the war against invasive zebra mussels. Put it on the shelf next to the BioBullets, Zequanox, the mussel-killing cocktail and the Mobile Decontamination Machine.
Introducing, the Beachmaker.
The Beachmaker sucks up zebra mussel shells and crushes them until they look like sand particles. It was invented by a Wisconsin man who wanted his kids to be able to play on the beach without wearing shoes.
According to an article in the Green Bay Press Gazette, the Beachmaker can crush a dump truck load of zebra mussels per …

If you’re an Ohioan itching to share your pictures of the Lake Erie watershed, the Ohio Lake Erie Commission wants to hear from you.
The commission is opening up its 2012 Life on Lake Erie photo contest, looking for pictures that display sustainable use, development or protection of Lake Erie’s resources. The photos can’t be digitally altered.  Winning images will be displayed online on the commission’s website and Facebook page.
You can submit entries by sending a printed photo or CD and entry form to the Ohio Lake Erie Commission in Sandusky, …